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RAPID Numbers

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What are RAPID numbers?

Rural Address Property IDentification system or RAPID is a nationwide system for numbering rural properties. In essence, the RAPID number becomes the Property Address. This means that any previous number being used by a property owner/resident is no longer valid and needs to be replaced with the new RAPID number.

An example of how the number on the peg appears looks like this:

ARVY 0124

This translates to mean the property address is:

124 Arnold Valley Road

How RAPID numbers are allocated

The number itself is allocated based on a fairly simple system of measuring the distance along a road from the start to the property access/driveway. Every 20m length of road has two available possible numbers, one odd number for the left side, and one even number for the right side. The final number is then stuck onto a BLUE marker peg and installed at the driveway close to the boundary line or close to an existing mail box.

In developing this system Council staff considered various options for the exact format of the number as it appears on the final peg and came up with the following system. As you look at your RAPID number you will see a combination of four letters and four numbers, The four letters at the start are an abbreviation of the road name your property is on, eg ATAR = Atarau Road, ARVY = Arnold Valley Road etc. The numbers indicate the distance you are from the start of that road, eg 0012 = 120m, 0245 = 2.45km, 3241 = 32.41km. Leading zero's have been used to help identify if any numbers have come off a peg and aren't part of the final number.

Why use RAPID numbers?

In the past, there have been several numbering systems used on some of our main roads. This has caused problems for postal delivery and emergency services (Police, Fire and Ambulance), especially when you have "Main Road" being used for the road name and the numbers start and stop at each end of a town. In past towns like Kaiata, Dobson and Stillwater all had "Main Road" as the name used for the State Highway running through them, they also had individual numbering systems that started and stopped for the residential properties. That means they all had a "1 Main Rd", or a "6 Main Rd". This can cause great confusion especially when the emergency services dispatcher is in Christchurch and isn't familiar with our district.

With the new RAPID system if you were to (for example) request an ambulance to 462 State Highway 7 Dobson, the ambulance officers know to travel 4.62km from Greymouth towards Dobson and look for a blue peg with "S7DO 0462" on it. The new system has been devised in order to Save Time & Save Lives.

How do the local emergency services know where I live?

As part of the process of allocating all the numbers, we also have a GPS reading taken at all the properties we allocate numbers to. From that data we then begin a process of mapping the exact location of all the numbers we allocate into our Geographical Information System (GIS). This then enables us to create a program which we have since supplied to both Fire and Ambulance Services in Greymouth. (We haven't as yet come to any arrangements with the Police for access to the data, but are working on something).

That means that if you give the full details of the RAPID number to the call centre staff in Christchurch they can then relay that information to the local Fire or Ambulance officers who can then check their system to see exactly where you are. This is why it is very important for you to know what your number is.

Who asks for or uses RAPID numbers?

With the majority of the country now using some form of RAPID numbering system for properties, pretty much all the major service providers ask for and use RAPID numbers when responding to a service request. That includes the following: Telecom, Trustpower, Police, Fire, Ambulance, Registrar of Electors, NZ Post, LINZ, Stats NZ, Sky TV, some Real Estate Agents, some Couriers. And many more…

How do I go about getting a RAPID number?

To get a new RAPID number you will need to contact the Assets Management & Engineering Department of Council, phone 03 769 8611. Details you will need to have handy are:

Valuation number

Details of your section, ie Lot Number, DP Number, etc

Location of your property

Your contact details, ie phone number etc

We can then make up a peg and install it for you.

Who then gets notified?

Once we have allocated a new number we will then send a notification to LINZ (Land Information NZ) and GDC Rates Officer. Periodically we will also update the Fire and Ambulance systems.

If we have changed your existing number we will notify: NZ Post, Registrar of Electors, LINZ and GDC Rates Officer.

In past we have offered to notify Telecom and Trustpower as well but no longer do this as it causes too many problems - this is something that the bill payer needs to action.

What do the four letters at the start of the number mean?

Those four letters as mentioned earlier are an abbreviation of the road name. Instead of using the full name Council staff decided to use a logical abbreviation instead. Those abbreviations are listed below:

Ahaura Kopara Rd = AHKO

Moonlight Rd = MNLT

Alcorn Rd = ALCN

Napoleon Street West = NAPO

Arnold Valley Rd = ARVY

Neilsons Rd = NEIL

Atarau Rd = ATAR

New River Rd = NWRV

Austin Rd = AUST

Nicholas Rd = NICH

Baty Place = BATY

Noname Rd = NONM

Bell Hill Rd = BELL

Notown Rd = NOTN

Blair Rd = BLAI

Ogilvie Rd = OGIL

Burke Rd = BURK

Omoto Valley Rd = OMOT

Caledonian Rd = CALE

Orwell Creek Rd = ORWE

Camerons Rd = CAME

Red Jacks Rd = RDJK

Camptown Rd = CAMP

Riverview Rd = RIVW

Cape Terrace Rd = CAPE

Roa Rd = ROAR

Cargill Rd = CARG

Rutherglen Rd = RTHG

Carters Rd = CART

Rutherglen New River Rd = RGNR

Cashmere Bay Rd = CASH

Saltwater Creek Rd = SALT

Centre Rd = CNTR

Sawmill Lane = SAWM

Clifton Rd = CLFT

School Drive = SCHD

Coopers Rd = COOP

Shellback Rd = SHLB

Coulson Rd = COUL

Sids Rd = SIDS

Craigieburn Rd = CRAG

Slaty Creek Rd = SLAT

Croesus Track Rd = CROE

Spring Creek Rd = SPCR

Dredge Rd = DRDG

Station Rd = STAT

Drennans Rd = DREN

Taramakau Settlement Rd = TRMK

Glen Rd = GLEN

Taylorville Rd = TYVL

Golden Sands Rd = GLDS

Taylorville Blackball Rd = TLVB

Goldtown Rd = GLDT

Trigon Rd = TRIG

Golf Links Rd = GLFL

Trigon Rd West = TRGW

Gows Creek Rd = GOWS

Waikori Rd = WAIK

Granville Rd = GVLL

Waipuna Rd = WAIP

Granville Rd West = GVLW

Waiwhero Rd = WAIW

Greymouth Kotuku Rd = GMKO

Wallace Rd = WLLC

Haupiri Rd = HAUP

Wallis Rd = WLLS

Heaphy Rd = HPHY

Warren Rd = WRRN

Hodgekinson Rd = HODG

Watterson Rd = WATT

Kamahi Place = KAMA

Welshmans Rd = WLSH

Kangaroo Creek Rd = KGCR

SHWY 6 Punakaiki = S6PU

Kellars Rd = KELL

SHWY 6 Barrytown = S6BA

Kotuku Bell Hill Rd = KOBH

SHWY 6 Coast Road = S6CR

Kumara Inchbonnie Rd = KMIN

SHWY 6 Rapahoe = S6RA

Lake Brunner Rd = LKBR

SHWY 6 Runanga = S6RU

Lake View Terrace = LKVW

SHWY 6 Coal Creek = S6CC

Lees Ferry Rd = LSFR

SHWY 7 Totara Flat = S7TF

Limestone Rd = LIME

SHWY 7 Ahaura = S7AH

Logburn Rd = LOGB

SHWY 7 Ngahere = S7NG

Maori Creek Rd = MAOC

SHWY 7 Stillwater = S7ST

Maori Gully Rd = MAOG

SHWY 7 Dobson = S7DO

Marsden Rd = MARS

SHWY 7 Kaiata = S7KI

Marsden New River Rd = MRNR

SHWY 7 Omoto = S7OM

Matai Rd = MATR

SHWY 6 Paroa = S6PA

McArthur Rd = MCAR

SHWY 6 Gladstone = S6GL

McLean Pit Rd = MCLP

SHWY 6 Camerons = S6CA

Mill Rd = MILL

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What are the numbers on the road name signs?

As an integral part of this whole RAPID numbering process we also updated many of our old road name signs. Instead of simply the road name only, all new rural signs have the RAPID number range for that section of road included. They also indicate the direction the numbers run so you can locate numbers faster over long roads. Signs at the ends of a road have the full number range included, intermediate signs at intersections have partial number ranges to indicate number direction only.

Who replaces the peg if it gets damaged or stolen?

Because Council has implemented this system, it has been decided that Council will supply new pegs and numbers free of charge. If for whatever reason your peg is damaged or goes missing, please contact the Assets & Engineering Department (phone + 64 3 769 8611) and ask to speak to the person in charge of RAPID Numbering, or alternatively leave your name, contact details and address.

Why are there no blue pegs until after Saltwater Creek at Paroa?

Paroa and South Beach missed out on getting RAPID pegs installed because the existing numbers matched the RAPID numbers perfectly and it's now being considered more and more to be part of town itself. When that happens we can get away with standard street numbering. South of Saltwater creek however things become more spread out and there was one or two wrongly allocated numbers, so we carried on where Paroa left off.​